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UK research network Janet under ongoing and persistent DDoS attack

Attackers seem to be adjusting methods in response to Tweets

Publicly-funded academic computer network Janet has come under a persistent DDoS attack today, which hobbled multiple internet connections, including the Manchester to Manchester Core Router.

Janet, effectively the UK's computer network for educational and research institutions, first experienced connectivity problems shortly after 9am this morning.

Its engineers and security teams identified the cause as a DDoS attack and worked to identify the source of the assault and implement blocks.

After some suggestions of network stabilisation however, further problems were seen.

The network is funded by Jisc, formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee, a non-departmental public body in the UK, whose Major Incidents Twitter account provided the most recent updates:

At the time of writing the tactic is yet to have any great effect, with 35 connections down, according to Netsight. While mostly facility specific, the Manchester to Manchester Core Router backbone connection is also down.

Following our publication, Jisc send The Register a statement confirming that:

"On Monday 7 December at 9.24 a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack caused unplanned disruption on the Janet network. This has resulted in a potentially intermittent service for all customers.

Our network and computer security incident response teams are currently working to resolve the problem.

Customers affected have been contacted and are being provided with up to date information."

So there we have it. ®

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